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In Yogya, the Biggest Threat From Merapi Is to Livelihoods Arientha Primanita | November 08, 2010 Yogyakarta. Saturday nights in Yogyakarta, normally a hive of tourism and culture, have been rather subdued of late as Mount Merapi casts a figurative and literal cloud over this ancient city. The roads are caked in layers of dark volcanic ash, while the vehicles that rumble down them sport the same drab livery. The houses, too, are not spared, but rain last Saturday helped clear the air for a while. The desolation is most apparent on Jalan Malioboro - the city's normally thriving hub of eating, shopping and people-watching - where the popular lesehan , or cheap food tents, remain deserted. Suparjo, who works at one such lesehan, says he has never seen a Saturday night this quiet. "Usually on a Saturday, Malioboro is packed," he says. "You get lots of motorcycles parked by the curb and people just walking around, back and forth." The lesehan where he works has been in business for the past 15 years, serving traditional fried chicken, fish and other dishes. Suparjo says he and his four fellow workers always prepare 20 whole chickens for the Saturday night crowd, and can expect to sell out by midnight. On this night, however, they only prepared 20 cuts, selling just a handful by 10 p.m. "I guess it's empty because people have evacuated or they don't want to go out in the current conditions," he says. "We're staying open because we've got to make a living." Yani, who works at a lesehan on Jalan Kusbini, says there has been a significant drop in customers since Merapi began erupting on Oct. 26. "We can always count on Saturday nights for big business, because that's when people go out," she says, adding her lesehan was closed on Friday when the city felt the biggest eruption in more than a century. "But like you can see now, it's a pretty quiet night." Out by the curb, Paijo and Yanto, who make their living plying Yogyakarta's iconic becaks (rickshaws), smoke cigarettes as they wait for hard-to-come-by customers to pass. "It's very quiet tonight," Paijo, who has driven a becak for the past 10 years, says with a sigh. "It's difficult getting even a single passenger because so few people are coming out." Paijo, who usually looks for customers around Malioboro's shops and cafes, works from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., and from 6 p.m. to midnight. On a good day, he can make up to Rp 50,000 ($6). "I'm worried about the eruptions, and I'm worried about the lack of passengers, which is going to hurt my livelihood," he says with a pained laugh. Further down the street, Ibu Haji Tari has to close up her batik stall at 10 p.m., long before the usual closing time around midnight. "There aren't many visitors tonight, so I've decided to call it a day," she says. She opened the stall with her husband, Subandri, in 1982. During the big eruptions on Thursday, she chose to keep it open, despite most of her neighbors keeping their stores shuttered. "Whatever happens, happens, but I still have to work," she says brightly, adding that on Thursday, a group of tourists from Madura in East Java shopped at her stall. Tari says the city administration has tried to keep Malioboro humming by washing away all the ash last week in a joint effort with vendors. "Yogyakarta is dependent on tourists, and we want shoppers to feel comfortable while they're here," she says. "I really hope the government can guarantee that tourist numbers will get back to normal." Over at Pasar Beringharjo, the colorful traditional market, the mood is just as somber. Sylvia, who has run her family's fabrics store at the market for the past 10 years, says she had to close shop. "There aren't many visitors to the market, much less buyers," she says. "On a normal day we can make up to Rp 5 million, but now it's difficult just to get Rp 1 million." Sylvia says she has regular buyers in Purworejo and Temanggung in Central Java, but in the past fortnight orders have dried up. Tuti and Irma, a mother and daughter team who also run a batik shop at Beringharjo, say their income has fallen drastically too. "We're really sad," Tuti says. "Sad that Merapi is erupting, sad for Yogyakarta and other affected areas, sad that business hasn't been running smoothly." With the eruptions expected to go on for at least another two months, Yogyakarta Governor Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X has called on local businesspeople to take it all in stride. "You have been at the top when you were selling lots of items, and you must be grateful for that," he said. "Now you're not selling as much, but you should still be grateful. After all, this is a natural disaster. What can we do?" He added Yogyakarta's tourism industry would no doubt rebound, and in some ways it has. Over at the Jokoyudan Bridge on Jalan Sudirman, dozens of families gather to watch the lahar, or volcanic mudflows, stream down the Code River. This is what has become of their Saturday night entertainment. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! 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